As most of you will have heard, us Christchurch folks woke up at 4:35 this morning to the sight of collapsing buildings 
Well i was lucky enough to see two fall down anyway.
I live near the very middle of the Christchurch CBD, the worst affected part of the city - I was awoken by a massive bang, i thought at first a car had crashed into the building, i sprang out of bed and rushed straight to the door:
TheVoid (runs into hallway, turns to flatmate) : What the fuck was that?
Flatmate: That was a fucking huge earthquake.
I had to check it out so i ran to the window, just in time to see a building down the end of my block loose it's face:
![[Image: Earthquake-damage-in-Chri-006.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=static.guim.co.uk%2Fsys-images%2FGuardian%2FPix%2Fpictures%2F2010%2F9%2F4%2F1283555755469%2FEarthquake-damage-in-Chri-006.jpg)
And it was my favorite fucking Mexican restaurant too! The face spat out not more than a few bricks, then the entire face collapsed onto the street and down into the shops below.
The earthquake lasted about 1 minuet, and it was unlike anything i've ever felt - The walls were literally bending and twisting, you could feel a concrete building sway - And it was fucking awesome, despite the electricity being off for a few hours, and still feeling the aftershocks constantly rumbling through, i found time to have a bong on the roof and enjoy the spectacle of feeling the earth violently shake you around.
The next few hours i spent walking around town in awe, calling out with the other town-goers through the rubble, nothing to bad - nobody was killed luckily, despite several thousand homes and a hundred or so commercial buildings collapsing.
After a bit of this i went back and tuned into the TV broadcast, lad and egg breakfast, and then watched as teams of civil defense workers, police, fire trucks etc cordoned off my entire block, and made me pack up and leave.
I don't think i'll be getting home for a few days, Though i'm pretty sure my building will be alright, very few cracks anywhere, and the landlord seems reassured - Though another big one is predicted in the next 24 hours, so my building may be in a different state after that.
Another interesting thing, this earthquake was bigger than the one in Haiti, yet we managed to get by alright, it just shows how little chance they had in their impoverished conditions.
Anyway, everyone i know is fine, less damage than it could have been, and we were really lucky not to have any fatalities.
Well i was lucky enough to see two fall down anyway.I live near the very middle of the Christchurch CBD, the worst affected part of the city - I was awoken by a massive bang, i thought at first a car had crashed into the building, i sprang out of bed and rushed straight to the door:
TheVoid (runs into hallway, turns to flatmate) : What the fuck was that?
Flatmate: That was a fucking huge earthquake.
I had to check it out so i ran to the window, just in time to see a building down the end of my block loose it's face:
And it was my favorite fucking Mexican restaurant too! The face spat out not more than a few bricks, then the entire face collapsed onto the street and down into the shops below.
The earthquake lasted about 1 minuet, and it was unlike anything i've ever felt - The walls were literally bending and twisting, you could feel a concrete building sway - And it was fucking awesome, despite the electricity being off for a few hours, and still feeling the aftershocks constantly rumbling through, i found time to have a bong on the roof and enjoy the spectacle of feeling the earth violently shake you around.
The next few hours i spent walking around town in awe, calling out with the other town-goers through the rubble, nothing to bad - nobody was killed luckily, despite several thousand homes and a hundred or so commercial buildings collapsing.
After a bit of this i went back and tuned into the TV broadcast, lad and egg breakfast, and then watched as teams of civil defense workers, police, fire trucks etc cordoned off my entire block, and made me pack up and leave.
I don't think i'll be getting home for a few days, Though i'm pretty sure my building will be alright, very few cracks anywhere, and the landlord seems reassured - Though another big one is predicted in the next 24 hours, so my building may be in a different state after that.
Another interesting thing, this earthquake was bigger than the one in Haiti, yet we managed to get by alright, it just shows how little chance they had in their impoverished conditions.
Anyway, everyone i know is fine, less damage than it could have been, and we were really lucky not to have any fatalities.
.
